British GP - Friday - Practice Session 1 Report

Massa a big hit

Felipe Massa set the fastest time of the first session for the British GP at Silverstone, but the Brazilian's morning was ruined when he hit oil and spun heavily into the wall at Stowe, causing considerable damage to the rear end of his car.

The times did not seem hugely significant given the number of laps that Massa had managed before the crash, caused when he hit oil dropped by Fernando Alonso's exploding Renault.

The inteetsing thing was the two McLarens seemed to be on the pace with Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton within a blink of Massa's time and well ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Robert Kubica was fifth - a position he knows well this year - with Alonso sixth ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso, Nelson Piquet's Renault, David Coulthard's Red Bull and Nico Rosberg's Williams.

Nick Heidfeld was again in trouble in 13th, while Honda was down the back, battling with Force India.